Guatemala preview 08: Soccer feild 1

We cleared two potential soccer fields of overgrowth. The first was on a cement slab, but we didn't know it was on a cement slab until we started to clear away some of the weeds. Down there in Guatemala, they use machettes for this kind of work. So we gladly obliged to swing the sword like object at living things (plants).

It was really tiring work. We were at an elevation of 5,000 feet, as opposed to Michigans 700 feet. Oxygen is really thin at that elevation, so working and breathing is much harder there, and you get winded fast.

We kept going and eventually with the help of some of the other soccer coaches in Global Soccer Ministires, we cleared the whole thing, and then started on feild two, which was a grass field. After roughly 3 hours we had the two fields cleared and were ready for lunch.

Guatemala Preview 08: Villa Nueva

We all packed into two cars and headed to Villa Nuava. Global Soccer Ministries, the group we will be working with is putting on soccer camps at this school/orphanage/children's home.

The children of the area of Villa Nueva are not in the best of conditions. Sometimes their parents don't want them, sometimes they can't afford to feed them, or sometimes they do not have the mental capacity to take care of them. The school takes them in and gives them a quality education and upbringing in church. They house 51 children and educate 450.

You can see by this picture that it is not in the best area. The school is guarded by a security wall with razor wire and a security guard with a pistol grip sawed off. He mans the door and lets people in and keeps people out. The school is upgrading its facilities and building more lodging and better housing for the missionaries who live there.

It is cool to see what is happening in this area of town where there is so much poverty and despair, right in the middle is this beacon of hope. A place where someone cares. A place where you can get what you need to develop into the person God wants you to be.

A picture of this is seen in this little girl. She is 8 pounds, yet she is 18months old in this picture. The school picked her up and gave her some hope. All the missionaries that live in Villa Nueva love this little girl to death. They threw her an 8 pound party! But it shows that your average person in this area does not have the proper nutrition to develop.

Visiting this school was a bit eye opening as to the great conditions that we have been brought up with in America, and to the Hope that a few people can bring by just providing everyday needs in the name of Jesus.

I think Jesus said something about that in Matthew....

Guatemala 08 Preveiw

I had the opportunity to go to Guatemala in September. I ahve not been able to blog about it so much due to my schedule and the fact that I am still processing what I encountered. I went with four other guys who would be interested in taking teams down to work with the missionaries we met. The purpose of the trip was to get an idea of what a missions trip would be like, and then to plan out next years trip. I saw everything that I needed to see and Shiloh Community Church is going to Guatemala in July of 2009. We went with an organization called Simply Missions. If anyone is looking for a missions agency to work with, this is the one to go through. You will not feel like a cog in the machine, they connect churches to missionaries in different feilds around the world. I tried to take trips through some larger organizations, but I always felt lost and disconnected with the size of the organization. Simply Missions is a great personal organization that can tailor a trip to meet what you want to do instead of you tailoring your team to meet what the organization wants you to do.

The first day was travel. We took a 6am flight out of Detroit and arrived in Guatemala City at 1pm Michigan time (11am Guatemala Time) The trip licked our butts since we didn't sleep the night before, so the first day we got out room and met the missionary family the Banta's and took it easy.

One of our days was spent in Paradise, or Zone 18, which is a squatter village (500,000 people) built upon the Guatemala City garbage dump. The picutres here show some people we met, and some houses we got to walk through.

Many houses are washed away in garbage slides, kind of like land slides but with trash, so the church the Banta's are associated with is building retaining walls to keep houses from sliding into an abyss of trash and mud. The church is also building houses for people from their church who live there. You can see the block house in these pictures is one of the "nicest on the block" complete with windows and doors. Most people live in shacks held up with large sticks and walled in with corrigated tin. The family you see here is waiting on a house. They have 6 - 10 people living in a two room shack with an open fire for a stove and one outlet for the radio. They have three mattresses in one room that they all sleep in, but the rain is draining in and making the mattresses and blankets wet and moldy.

In the center of town there is a dirt feild for a soccer feild that the church is fixing up to make a community center for this area.

RE: You've Got Hate Mail

I would like to thank you all for your encouraging words here regarding my hate mail. To say that this letter did nothing to me at all and that it did not phase me would be a lie. To say that I had no desire to know who this person is and to egg their car is a lie also. But to say that this letter holds any power over my life now would also be a lie. It did, but it does no longer.

When I recieved this in the mail, I opened it without even thinking. I read the opening lineand honestly, I wanted to know what the rest of it said. I put it in my wallet and was not sure of what I should do. Should I stop the poison of this letter in its tracks and bear the brunt of this hate and bitterness alone, or should I spread the poison by letting others read it? I decided to leave it in my wallet and pray over my decision.

Later in the day Kara said to me, "You didn't tell me about the letter." I had told her what I was rolling over in my mind and we talked about the  information that was in the letter and how sad we felt for this person that has nothing better to do with their life than mill over how unhappy they are with change and progress in our church. We talked about how sad this person must be to not have the courage to sign a letter that they were so passionate about. We talked about how our first response is anger and defense, and then after thought and prayer we feel sadness for the sender.

That night we were still talking about the letter, but then we decided to stop talking and start praying. We prayed over the letter and we prayed that God would neutralize the poison of hate that was now in our system, and we prayed that God would deal with the sender and resolve any issues of bitterness, hate, and anger. I felt a sense that God was saying, "Let me deal with this." So I let it go, and honestly, I have the letter taped to my wall in my office, along with many encouraging notes, and it holds no power in me. When I read it, I am not angry, I am not insecure, I am not defensive, I am sad for the sender.

I invite you to pray for this person as you read this post and ask God to reveal to this person the hate and bitterness that is residing in this person's heart. And if you ever get hate mail, know that God is our defender, and we do not need to adjust our self image publically with many words, but we can rely on out God, who is the light of the world, to shine his light of truth into darkness and confusion.

I pose no defense to the sender of the letter but know this one thing: I have been praying for you.

You've Got Hate Mail

I recieved this annonymous, handwritten, no return address letter in the mail yesterday. I have altready formulated my thoughts on this, and I will write them on my return from Guatemala, but I would love to hear your thoughts on this:

Tom,

     Would you Please resign! Move on!

    The children did not have bible camp this year.

        There is not a new membership class.

        The teens can't help pick up trash 

         along the highway; because the youth

        director is not smart enough to look

       into this.

      the teens can't help make apple pies

       because the youth director is not

      smart enough to look into this

                  you act and dress like

      you are of the world and not for

       the world.

      Please look into resigning

      and moving on!

Ninja with no legs

Bible In a Minute

nice.

Family Vacation pt9

Isaac had an Ice cream from the Ice cream man, who looked like Rod Stewart, and then Kara and I went out on a date. We wanted to see the X-files movie, but aparently it was not showing within 30 miles of the house, so we went out to eat and walked around Meijers. Then on the way home the next day we stopped and saw Grandma and then we left for home. It was a great vacation, the quiet before the storm as I like to call it. First vacation in three years, probably should not go that long again.

family Vacation pt8

We went fishing, and Isaac caught his very first fish on his own. He casted (with a little help) and reeled the fish in all by himself. Nolan got a picture with the fish that Daddy caught. Oh yeah, Isaac kept swinging the fish on the line and saying, "He's swinging!"

Family Vacation pt7

We went to Pontiac Lake for the day. and hung out on the beach. Nolan liked to explore and find rocks, and Isaac wanted to swim.

Family Vacation pt6

The boys really loved the trampoline. We all player on that till we about passed out from exhaustion. Isaac was getting some sweet vertical on this jump. He is getting so big.

Family Vacation pt5

We visited my parents and played there all day. Here are some pictures of the pool.

Family Vacation pt4

We found a fly swatter gun, and we shot beer cans off the table. Isaac had so much fun. "ready aim fire!" he would say after me as we pulled the trigger.

Family Vacation pt3

Boys on Trikes.

Family Vacation pt 2

Isaac and Kara went tubing on the lake for an hour. Isaac loved the water spraying in his face, and watching the water go by. It was cool to watch. Then he passed out in the van at Meijers. Being on the water makes you tired.

Family Vacation pt 1

We went on vacation for a few days and stayed with Kara's parents. The first thing that we did was to go out on the boat on White Lake. It was amazing. Isaac loved the wind in his hair, and then we stopped by an island and fed some fish.